Of all of the greats who were gone too soon - who would you bring back if you could and why or what do you see happening if they did not die?

Pick ONE and only one.

I'll make several suggestions but if I don't list yours you can certainly write in a candidate.
And tell me what you think would've happened with their respective band/career had they lived. Try to be realistic though.

I'm going to draw the line at about age 40 - while I might consider artists like Prince, MJ, Bowie, Petty, Peart or even Elvis (42) I think they had a long enough career we know what it looked like in their later years. But if you feel compelled to choose on of those that is fine I'm just not listing them.

• John Lennon
• John Bonham
• Brian Jones
• Keith Moon
• Jimi Hendrix
• Janis Joplin
• Jim Morrison
• Bon Scott
• Randy Rhoads
• Terry Kath
• Stevie Ray Vaughn
• Jeff Buckley
• Amy Winehouse
• Chris Cornell
• Kurt Cobain
• Jeff Healey
• Duane Allman
• Marvin Gaye
• Bob Marley
• Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines (since they died together you can assume both live like there was no plane crash)
• Harry Chapin
• Jim Croce
• Sid Vicious
• Andy Gibb
• Mama Cass Elliot
• Buddy Holly
• Big Bopper
• Ritchie Valens
• Sam Cooke
• Otis Redding
• Other

For me I thought about Lennon quite a bit but I don't think I can assume The Beatles would have necessarily reunited or done anything more except maybe a reunion concert at best. And his death as opposed to many of the others was not self inflicted at all so it has a more tragic feeling to me. I also loved what he did as a solo artist (maybe not as much as The Beatles but still pretty great) and he was just relaunching himself with Double Fantasy and clearly had more stuff in the works.

Hendrix was also a consideration - I think his progression and influence on different styles throughout the 70s and 80s would have potentially been fascinating (almost Prince-like in a way) and could see him collaborating with a bunch of people and maybe even get into producing. I think his impact could have been even more legendary then it is.

But as a drummer the clear choice for me is Bonham. LZ were very current then having just released ITTOD and I can envision them doing some album maybe in 1985 and again like 1990 and maybe a final album in the late 90s. Like a counter to the 80s hair metal stuff and then a bounce back after GNR that rocks hard and a late 90s maybe more mellow final double album. Then maybe a long hiatus before returning for a payday tour in 2019 for their 50th anniversary. Plus then I would have gotten to see them in concert at some point. I was just too young the last time they toured the US.

Those are the top 3 for me anyway but I'd have to pick Bonham and LZ.

Bruce Almighty said:

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Jimi Hendrix. He was starting to get away from the psychedelic stuff and getting more into the blues / jazz fusion when he died. He was set on doing an album with Miles Davis, which I think would have been awesome. The 70s/80s weren't kind to bands of the late 60s, and I'm not sure he would have embraced disco the way the Rolling Stones did, but maybe Hendrix gets really into the funk scene of the 70s. What would his career in the 80s be like? I'm sure he would have collaborated with Michael Jackson at some point. Maybe he has a career resurgence like Santana did in the late 90s.

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I agree in a lot of ways his path might have been the most interesting. I doubt he would have been constrained to any particular sound style or genre. And his talent was limitless.

Bon Scott from AC/DC. Would have loved to see him.

Agreed. And Kath almost overshadows the whole piece of course. But the brass section was killing it too, Danny Seraphine on drums is almost as underrated as Kath. And it was Peter Cetera when he still rocked on bass and leads vocals.

It was just a great band.

If you watch the entire concert it was like the 4th song following Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is (also great). And in that you see the technical issues they were having- for some reason Seraphine changes out some cymbals on the fly and adjust the stands. They just kind of worked around it while the band was doing a slow intro into 25 or 6 to 4 with Kath messing around on guitar and started out sounding like just some jam and then they kick it into this classic as soon as Seraphine is ready. Amazing. It was almost 2 minutes between songs.

EDIT - I say classic but this was July of 1970 and the Chicago II album had just released in January with 25 or 6 to 4. So it was not even likely widely known then which is why it came early in the 17 song setlist.

I'm thinking about this list as who would've aged well. I think SRV would've just gotten better and better as he aged. I think Jeff Buckley still had a lot to give and would've aged well.

By the way not to completely derail my own thread with Chicago but if you want to see another absolute killer song from the same concert watch the encore - a cover of Spencer Davis/ Steve Winwood's "I'm a Man". Another absolute jam and Kath takes lead vocals and starts out shredding it. It's about 9 minutes long There is an extended Seraphine drum solo/feature in the middle with Lamm, Kath and Cetera right around the drum kit as he kills it for about 2 minutes. Hell of a band.

Starts about 1:23:45 the song breaks are not marked correctly in the scroll.

Aust Ag said:

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The biggest "what if" would have been if Lennon wasn't killed. Would The Beatles have reformed, or at least toured? Odds of a massive stadium tour in the 80s are pretty high. Multiple nights in single stadiums. Payday would have been tough to walk away from.

I wish Randy Rhodes would have made it though. You would be talking about EVH/household name status today.

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I have my doubts The Beatles would have ever reunited or toured together. While they maintained relationships after they disbanded, they really were done with each other as far as being a musical group.

I can easily see them doing a few one-off concerts over the years, though, for charity or special occasions.

Bruce Almighty said:

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Jimi Hendrix. He was starting to get away from the psychedelic stuff and getting more into the blues / jazz fusion when he died. He was set on doing an album with Miles Davis, which I think would have been awesome. The 70s/80s weren't kind to bands of the late 60s, and I'm not sure he would have embraced disco the way the Rolling Stones did, but maybe Hendrix gets really into the funk scene of the 70s. What would his career in the 80s be like? I'm sure he would have collaborated with Michael Jackson at some point. Maybe he has a career resurgence like Santana did in the late 90s.

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Yep. My first thought. Jimi had so much left in the tank.

Gaines and RVZ. Imagine the real Lynyrd for 30 years more.

I wonder where LZ would have been if Bonham had lived. Feel like they were close to falling apart one way or the other.

Hendrix is the obvious one. He really was early in his career. 30 years of him. You could argue the same for SRV.

George Harrison and Tom Petty together.

Please delete Sid Vicious off that list. That dude is widely considered a terrible bass player. Nothing was lost with his death.

That said hard for me to choose one on that list. I wish all these guys were still alive...

Jimi Hendrix
John Bonham
Ronnie VanZant
Randy Rhoades.
Terry Kath

Ironically the one that hit me when he passed but I think would not have mattered at all for playing any more is Neil Peart.

Not only was he done, I think the band would have been done. Only with his passing and time had it allowed Geddy and Alex to move on and come back. And in that strange way we are all luckier for it. I can't wait.

Mathguy64 said:

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Ironically the one that hit me when he passed but I think would not have mattered at all for playing any more is Neil Peart.

Not only was he done, I think the band would have been done. Only with his passing and time had it allowed Geddy and Alex to move on and come back. And in that strange way we are all luckier for it. I can't wait.

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Yeah I always think about him first really. He was my idol as a drummer. More so than Bonham really. But Peart did get 45 years or so to make music and play live and I was blessed to see Rush maybe 7-8 times. And of course he was just about done anyway for various health reasons and just age he could not play to his own high standard any more. For that reason it might have been the end of the line anyway as far as touring. But perhaps they might have recorded again. Who knows.

His death was a complete gut punch to me. Devastating.

I'll be at the Dickies Arena concert for the Sunday show in June with Anika Nilles. I haver to go. It's going to be great but it's also going to hurt.

Mowdy Ag said:

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Brad Delp. Perfect pitch, incredible range.

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This is mine.

Cliff Burton

Mowdy Ag said:

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Brad Delp. Perfect pitch, incredible range.

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This is mine. Such an incredible but sadly small body of work.

From your list, SRV without a doubt.

But I will write in Chris Cornell, although its up for debate whether we should allow suicides on this list.

Bonzo

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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KidDoc said:

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Mowdy Ag said:

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Brad Delp. Perfect pitch, incredible range.

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This is mine. Such an incredible but sadly small body of work.

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But it wasn't for a lack of time. Delp was 56 when he died.

Just that Scholz took years and years to make albums.

There was a 16 year gap between Third Stage (1986) and Corporate America (2002).

Even the first album after Delp passed was 6 years later with I think 4 songs that had Delp.

I mean I get it I think we all wanted more especially in 1979-2001 a 22 year span where we got ONE album.

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This Scholtz is a control freak and perfectionist and never allowed that band to be what it could have been.

Morrison or Hendrix

Cromagnum said:

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From your list, SRV without a doubt.

But I will write in Chris Cornell, although its up for debate whether we should allow suicides on this list.

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Certainly overlooked and deserving. Cause of death isn't really a factor imo and you could argue several of these killed themselves just the method they chose was drugs.

Scholz did indeed chase perfection in a way few, if any, others have ever matched. …and he came pretty darn close to it on that first album, thanks in large part to Delp's fantastic vocals. The later albums were good but never quite recaptured the magic of the first.

Beyond himself (and maybe Brad to some extent), it appears that he saw the rest of the band as expendable talented hired guns so there was a lot of turnover through time - a pretty clear case of Tom's way or the highway. BUT, his contributions to the writing, the recording, creation of the unique sound, a disproportionate % of the instrumentation, and business management made him THE driving force, so he saw Boston as his baby, right or wrong.

I'm cheating because he was only on one rock&roll song ever and choosing Jam Master Jay

I thought (I could be wrong) that on the debut album, he played all the instruments except for drums. Jim Masdea did the drums.